The England captain is exiting with all the unhurried deliberation of a great cricketer who has been an understated marvel of the sporting age. It is all a little mannered, don’t you think?
Alastair Cook must go! Alastair Cook might go. Alastair Cook could conceivably go. Providing, you know, he’s OK with it. In the buildup to the final Test against India in Chennai Cook announced that no decision would be made “in the heat of the moment” on his future as England’s Test captain. No shit, Sherlock. This has been the mission statement throughout, an England era forged in the ice of the late Flower years, where all decisions were made in the cool of the moment, bowling dry, captaining dry, press conferencing dry.
And now finally we have the spectacle of Cook ceasing to captain England in stages, exiting with all the unhurried deliberation of a genuinely great cricketer whose craft, grit and basic stillness have been an understated marvel of the sporting age.
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